1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Lyons, Richard Bickerton Pemell Lyons, 1st Earl

LYONS, RICHARD BICKERTON PEMELL LYONS, 1st Earl (1817–1887), British diplomatist, son of the preceding, was born at Lymington on the 26th of April 1817. He entered the diplomatic service, and in 1859–1864 was British minister at Washington, where, after the outbreak of the Civil War, the extremely important negotiations connected with the arrest of the Confederate envoys on board the British mail-steamer “Trent” devolved upon him. After a brief service at Constantinople, he succeeded Lord Cowley at the Paris embassy in 1867. In the war of 1870 he used his best efforts as a mediator, and accompanied the provisional government to Tours. He continued to hold his post with universal acceptance until November 1887. He died on the 5th of December 1887, when the title became extinct.